The Order
by ElementalShadow
Summary: Naruto made a choice, now everything is falling apart around him. Is anyone able to help him pick up the pieces? Or will he just walk on broken glass?


**This is just another quick one-shot that has a purpose to it. Not much of a forward.**

**Onward to the story!**

**Wounds Time Can't Heal**

_**Konohagakure no Sato: **_

It was a dark day. The sky was black with thunder clouds and the air was thick with humidity. Lightning struck the ground in the distance and sometimes on top of the Hokage Monument and the thunder would follow soon after. It is said these days happen for a reason. To Naruto, today it was dark for him.

Naruto sat on the bottom step of the Konoha Public Library with the rain pelting him on his skin. All he wore was a simple pair of jeans that he had bought the other day and a pair of running shoes. He wore no shirt and it showed his scars and muscles. His Sea Blue eyes…his eyes no longer held the lively luster that they once did. They were now cold…dead. Nothing was there anymore. No emotion or feeling of any kind.

He raised his head to the blackened sky and frowned even more. His emotions were having their way with him, making his thoughts run amuck. _'Why did they do it?' 'Did they always hate me?' 'Am I nothing to everyone?' _So many thoughts kept coming to his head. Only one thought ever came back though. _'Why don't I just die?'_

He got up and walked down the street with his hands in his pockets. _'I guess that I should just go home. At least there I can have my own place free of all of these sick bastards.'_

He walked and walked and walked until he came to his rundown apartment building. When he got to his door, he saw that someone else had taken the liberty of painting a wonderful message on his door. It was crudely done with red paint.

_JUST DIE YOU GOD DAMNED DEMON! NO ONE LOVES YOU AND NO ON EVER WILL!_

He just opened the door and went inside. He was not surprised to find his apartment trashed beyond all belief. Holes were in his walls that let the water leak in and his kitchen table was smashed. His only couch was pulverized and his bedroom door was destroyed. Everything was simply devastated. He sighed and went into his room. Surprisingly, his bed was untouched. He laid his body down softly and let his head fall onto the soft pillow. _'Why did they have to do this to my home? It is the only place that I have. Ugh...why should I expect them to understand? They have their families and they have their friends. Why should I expect them to understand me?'_

He looked over to the remains of his nightstand and saw a kunai with a not attached. Curiosity taking hold of him, he picked it up. When he read the note, his eyes watered.

_Dear Naruto,_

_There is no reason for me to hide it from you any longer that I did at one point love you. But now that you have done this, I can only see that you are a monster. You have no heart…you have no soul…you are nothing but an animal that needs to be put down. _

There was no name signed at the bottom. That is what got to him the most. They were willing to give him the note but they were not willing to give him their name. _'They never cared for me no matter what I did. I gave myself to this village and when I couldn't deliver a single time, they shove me aside and wash their hands of me.'_

He looked at the kunai and noticed a scent coming off of it. When he examined the scent closer, he realized who it was. _'What? Hinata?'_

His grip on the kunai tightened as the tears came faster and faster. He did not scream, nor did he cry for love or recognition. He only let the tears fall.

_**Elsewhere:**_

A girl was walking the streets with her arms wrapped around her freezing form. All that she wore was a simple black battle kimono with a white lining. As she walked, the rain hit her in the face making her have to nearly shut her eyes to see. Everyone knew who she was but did not care for they were too wrapped up in their own devices to care for anyone else.

She walked and walked until she came to Naruto's normal hangout spot, Ichiraku's Ramen. He was not there, but his 'friends' were. She went in.

She looked over and saw a pink-haired girl sitting and laughing with her ninja comrades. "Hey! Sakura, do you know where Naruto is?"

She had gotten Sakura's attention but it was not the attention that she wanted. Sakura's face turned to a scowl when Naruto's name was spoken. She turned her head to meet the woman's voice, whom she recognized. "Why are you looking for that thing, Shizune?"

Shizune was shocked that Sakura spoke that way of him. She had never called Naruto a 'thing' and had even grown to like him. Shizune knew what had happened but had also known what had caused it. It wasn't his fault but apparently they blamed him in total for it. _'Why is she being like this? It wasn't his fault.'_

Shizune was hurt that she felt that way, but when she heard her words, she wanted nothing more to do with the girl. She turned on her heel and left. She knew that if Naruto was anywhere then he would be at his house. _'I hope that they haven't done anything too rash. They may think differently now but they can't be as bad as the villagers.'_

_**Back With Naruto:**_

Naruto was walking in the grass that soon turned to rock. He had left his home earlier in silent grief and had walked for hours until he figured he would go to the Hokage Monument to be near his idol and father, the Yondaime Hokage. He sat on the rock head with the kunai in his hands. He now wore a black jacket that was unzipped with no shirt on. He did not wear his headband.

No one ever came up to the monument anymore after they learned the dirty little secret of the Yondaime. He was alone and he did not care. No one else wanted to have anything to do with him but he did not care. Not even the fact that all of his friends were now his enemies bothered him...it was the fact that even one who had apparently loved him had been turned against him because of a simple action. _'I can't believe it…all of it…it's just so…'_

Why he felt this way, he did not know. He only wanted to protect them. He only wanted to keep them safe and he thought he had failed. Now they hated him for it…and he tried so hard to not care. He wanted so hard to make it feel like it was only the villagers again, but he knew that it had been the ones that he had grown up with and fought with. He had given blood, sweat and precious tears to save them and keep them safe. Now he had no one.

His tears came even harder.

_**Naruto's Apartment:**_

Shizune had rushed to Naruto's apartment. When she got there she was disgusted at the state of it. She brushed it of, though, and went on to his bedroom. She did not see him there but she did see the small but readable piece of paper. It was crumpled to show that it had been read and she picked it up. She read it and was angered. She knew who it was that had left the note and she now knew who had trashed his apartment.

She called his name but to no avail. He was gone. She searched through his apartment to try and find something; a clue that may tell her where he would be going to. She searched and searched but she found nothing.

As Shizune looked a little longer, she came across a book in the bottom of Naruto's closet that had been smashed under a pile of rubble. It wasn't the book itself that caught her eye, though. It was the title. She thought the title in her head. _'Naruto's Ninja Handbook.'_

She smiled as she remembered when he had first showed her that he had written it. He was only twelve and it had been a few weeks after him and Jiraiya-sama had brought her and Tsunade-sama back to Konoha. He had showed her the book and she had read the first section of it that had spoken of Naruto's nindo. She loved the memory because he had been so bright back then. That is why she needed to see him. She knew that if he had seen this and read the note, he would know that it was the Rookie Nine that did it. She knew that he would be hurt beyond measure.

'_I've got to find him before he does something that he regrets…I have to tell him the truth before he closes himself off.'_

She left for the final place that she knew he would go; the one place that had been part of his life for as long as he had known. The Hokage Monument.

_**Hokage Monument:**_

Naruto still sat with the kunai in his hands. He wanted so badly to be loved but he could not think of any way to get his friends back. He could not think of any way to get the one who had loved him back. While he did not know that she had loved him, Naruto had at one point fallen for Hinata. That had all changed, though, when he met his Black-Haired Beauty.

He loved the sight of Shizune the moment he saw her. He could not get her out of his head for the first few weeks after he had brought the two of them back. He yearned for the moment the he would eventually go into the mission office so that he could see Shizune again. He had never acted on his feelings though. There were reasons, of course. She was at least five years older than him!

When Naruto had gone to get the two medic ninja Shizune had been twenty-one and he had been sixteen. Naruto had seen her and he was in a trance, now his trance is deciding to revisit him when he is twenty-two and she is twenty-seven. He chuckled to himself. _'So much has happened since then. So much has gone to Hell and so much that I have fixed. After everything, I can only think about her. It's amazing…'_

Naruto stood up and was ready to leave until he heard a voice on top of the normally barren monument. It wasn't the voice that stopped him, really; it was the fact that the voice was calling his name. He turned back around to see that the object of his affection was running towards him, shouting his name, telling him not to go. He could not help but be surprised. He quickly tried to hide the now bloody knife that he held in his hands in his jacket pocket. Luckily for him, she did not see. She came up to see him zipping his jacket up. "Naruto-kun, I found you."

He looked at her in confusion. "Why were you looking for me?"

"I was wondering why I haven't seen you today. You said that you would be helping me at the hospital every weekend for the next few months because you got that special permission from Tsunade-sama. Where have you been?"

He could not help but look up at the rainy sky. His answer was simple enough. "Nowhere special, just my trashed apartment and the library. I just got here a few minutes ago and was getting ready to leave. I'm really surprised that you came here. I figured that everyone wanted nothing to do with me after what happened."

She frowned at his assumption and moved some wet hair out of her face. "I don't think like other people do, Naruto-kun. I know that you did what you had to do. It took a lot to do that and the fact that you were willing to make the choice was amazing for someone who was thought to be so immature. You make an excellent leader."

Naruto chuckled at her and felt the burning under his jacket, letting him know that the wound was healing. He was happy for that reason. He would rather not explain the injury to Shizune. He looked her in the eyes and was amazed to find that they were honest and caring. He also saw an emotion that he never thought he would see in her eyes.

Longing…

She longed for him, but he did not know why. Shizune knew why, though. She loved the boy with all her heart. She loved the way that he made her feel. Whenever she was down and needed someone to talk to, he was there to comfort her. He never once left her to herself when she felt sad or lonely. He would drop what he was doing and would put his time to her. That is why he made the promise to help her at the hospitals on the weekends. She longed for him…

He longed for her too. He wanted so much for her to love him but he knew better. He thought that it was the dumbest idea for someone to love him. He knew that everyone hated him. Even after he had risked his life to stoop Pain. Even after he had given his blood to save them from Uchiha Madara.

She walked over to him and got in front of him, looking him in the eyes. For the first time in forever, she saw the amazing little boy that she had become so infatuated with. She saw the Sunshine of Konoha. She then heard a sound…and her Sunshine was gone.

She looked past him to where the sound had come from and saw a small group of people. She recognized them as the Rookie Nine. In the front of the group was Haruno Sakura. She spoke up in a loud tone to make sure that she was heard. "Shizune, why are you with that thing?"

Shizune just scowled at her and leaned back in front of Naruto. He had an angered look on his face. She was afraid to look him in the eyes. She did anyway. She looked up and saw so many emotions that she never wanted to see. She saw the hurt…she saw the pain…she saw every inkling of fear that simmered in his eyes. His teeth were clenched and she heard a small sniffle. Even in the rain, she could tell what his reaction to her words was.

He was crying.

She felt so much pain for him. She took his shaking wrist and felt him tense up. He snapped and looked her in the eyes. His hard face softened and Shizune would swear she saw his lip quiver. She took his other hand. He lost all control and fell to his knees. He threw his head back and cried out in grief. Shizune's eyes began to water but no one could tell in the rain. She knelt down and wrapped him in a hug. Naruto cried harder into her shoulder.

Shizune felt terrible for her secret beloved. She knew that it was not only for Sakura's words that he cried. In one minute he had given the order and over the next hour the order was carried out. The very next day he had lost all of his friends for that very reason. Shizune remembered first hearing about the order.

Naruto had been given command of a Strike Force and was sent out to take care of a bandit infested village on the border of Fire Country. When they had arrived, they were spotted due to the poor timing of one in his group. They were given an ultimatum. They would leave alive or the bandits would kill everyone and move on and on and on, killing everything that they came across.

Naruto thought that they would be able to take them easily but then he remembered that the force that he had brought only had three men including him. They were outnumbered fifty to one. Naruto was strong but the Chunnin that were with him were green.

The bandit leader gave Naruto an hour to make his decision but he had given his answer in a single minute. He came together with his two Chunnin and gave them their orders.

Naruto knew that the bandits were in every nook and cranny of the village. He knew that they were in every house, bar, store, restroom and stable. Naruto did not want to, but he gave the order out of duty to the mission. His order was one simple word.

Burn.

Naruto did not make the inexperienced Chunnin do all the work though. He had razed nearly the entire village to the ground. He dare not look at the bodies that littered the ground, though. He had not wanted to see the charred remains of men, women and children.

Naruto had many nightmares that night.

Now he was here, in the arms of the woman that he had fallen in love with six years ago, crying. He loved the warmth that she gave him in the cold rain. But his reveling was cut short by the voice of Sakura once more.

"Hey, Shizune, did you hear me? Why are you with that monster?"

Shizune tried her best to ignore her. It became very easy when Naruto returned her hug and warmth. She nearly melted in his arms as she felt his muscles around her. She was angered when his warmth was taken from her by force. She had not even realized that she closed her eyes until she had to open them.

Sakura had grabbed Naruto by the back of his jacket and now held him to the ground. He did not fight back when her hands found their way to his neck. "Why do you think that you can touch Shizune like that?" She slammed her fist into the side of his face. Shizune cringed and wanted to help but she knew that somehow, Naruto would take care of it.

Naruto took blow after blow and still did not fight back. Naruto's face had become bloodied and bruised but Shizune knew that he would be healed nearly instantly if Sakura paused long enough. She finally did, but not of her own accord.

Her last punch was thrown but never connected with his face. He had caught it in his right hand and was now beginning to put pressure on it. Shizune could hear the bones in her hand popping and snapping. Sakura cried out in pain but none of her Rookie posse would help her in fear for their own lives.

Naruto simply twisted his hand and her wrist was pulled out of joint with a loud popping noise. Sakura backed away and screamed at the top of her lungs in pain. Naruto got up and brushed the dirt off of him. He knew that now was not the time to say what he wanted to say, but he knew he needed to say it eventually. He turned to Shizune. "Shizune-chan…I need to ask you something."

She looked at him with the same longing that she had earlier. He spoke again. "I know that I did what I had to do and I know that you think I did too. But they do not think so. They have nothing to do with this, though. I need you to know why I gave the order."

"I wanted to just go in, guns blazing and take them all down. When we finally got there, we knew that there was no way in hell that we were going to take them all down. They would have massacred us and then carried on with their promise. I know that Konoha has many able bodied ninja but I did not know how many they may have killed before the last of them was dead. I made the choice to save only one person. You."

To say that her heart was racing was the understatement of the century. She did not want to believe that he had feelings for her. She knew she loved him but she never expected him to return them. She looked at him with her longing eyes and he knew what she needed. She needed proof.

In a desperate act, Naruto closed the short distance with a quick step and knelt down to meet her. His angered demeanor was gone now that the Rookie Nine had left to take their broken friend to the hospital. He used his left hand to brush some hair out of her face and his other arm to bring her closer to him, making her lean in. "This is a very odd time to say this, Shizune, but I cannot go any longer without telling you. For the last twenty-one years of my life, all that I ever wanted was to be loved. Six years ago, I found the one person that I thought would be the one. Now, at this time, I know that I want to be with you and only you. Shizune, from the bottom of my heart, from the deepest pits of my soul and with every fiber of my being, I love you."

With his words finished, he pulled her in the rest of the way and pressed his lips to hers in a kiss filled to the brim with passion and overflowing with love. When they finally drew back for a breath, Shizune looked him in the eyes before speaking. "Naruto, for so long I wanted you to say those words but I thought you never would. I love you too. No one could ever love another like I love you."

Naruto's eyes once more held their amazingly brilliant shine. He pulled her back into a massive kiss that blew her word to pieces and rebuilt it from scratch. Using his father signature move and a seal that he hoped had not been destroyed after so long, he teleported away with Shizune in hand.

Where they ended up, only Naruto knew, but when Shizune looked around she wished that she had seen it and been there before. The landscape was green pastures and tall trees as far as the eye could see. For so long she was beginning to think that such natural beauty was lost to the world. She turned to Naruto with sparkling eyes. "What is this place? It is so beautiful!"

He smiled and kissed her, sitting down and patting for her to sit beside him. She did and he held her close to him. "I found this place when I was eighteen. I had gone on my very first assassination mission and I needed time to clear my head. Sure I had killed before but it was always straightforward and they would die away from me. That mission was a single person and I was so close to him. I could feel his heart stop slowly and I saw the life leave his eyes. When Tsunade-baa-chan granted me the free time, I left the village. After a few days of traveling, I left the elemental counties for a time. This is a small island barely a mile off of the coast of the continent that the nations are on."

She looked at him. "So we are no longer in the nations at all?"

"For now we are not. I created a seal in the top of the Yondaime Hokage's head and when you want to go back, we will. I just wanted to show you this place that I found. I was so deep in my own depression today that I forgot all about it. Now you have opened my eyes."

She smiled and for the last time that day, under the beautiful sun and blue skies, they shared one more kiss.

_**END:**_

**Hey, I hope that you all like that story. I took a bunch of my creative mind and put it into that. I don't really have much else to say.**

**Elemental Shadow Out!**


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